04 September 2025
|
Modern, power-hungry data centres produce heat at levels for which traditional air cooling systems are often ill-equipped. Liquid-based cooling methods may provide an efficient alternative, but their implementation comes with a significant amount of risk for data centres that are not purpose-built to carry them. Amrik Sangha, a partner at Gateley Middle East, explains the risks and how to manage them.
Located along the Persian Gulf, the city of Ajman – and the Emirate of the same name to which it belongs – is home to both sandy beaches and mangrove forests. In October 2024, it was also announced as the new home of the United Arab Emirates’ first AI-optimised data centre, which is due to complete in Autumn 2025.
“Our new data centre in Ajman has been specifically designed for the high computing power and scalability requirements of AI,” said CEO Hassan Alnaqbi when the development of the 100MW, 100,000m2 facility was announced at GITEX Global 2024.
“Our advanced cooling techniques and energy-efficient modular designs to maximise both energy efficiency and scalability integrated within this data centre will help the UAE anticipate and leverage this revolutionary technology, whilst at the same time supporting the nation’s goal of building a more environmentally sustainable economy.”
Similar announcements from other developers, governments, and businesses around the world are more than likely to follow.
Big business
The data centre market is booming, backed by growing business demand for computing infrastructure that can handle the greater power demands of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and cryptocurrency mining. Governments are also keen to enhance their country’s capabilities in these areas, offering numerous incentives and greater investment for businesses that can help to extend their computing credentials.
In September 2024, for example, the UK Government named data centres as a “critical national infrastructure” and invited local regions to submit applications for the development of ‘AI growth zones’.
Over in the Middle East, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has announced an AI-based initiative with funding of $100 billion via its Public Investment Fund. The KSA also launched a Cloud Computing Special Economic Zone, with tax benefits and streamlined processes for foreign investors, back in 2023.
Small wonder, then, that the data centre market is worth more than $405 billion and growing at around 23.2% year-on-year.
Out with the old?
Whilst the demand for facilities capable of handling power-hungry, high-intensity workloads is a boon for new data centre development, it presents significant challenges for the more than 11,000 registered data centres that are already operational around the world, both in terms of their capability to meet these demands, and their ability to do so efficiently and sustainably.
Data centres currently account for 2-3% of global electricity consumption, as well as 15% of global carbon emissions. AI-based workloads are only making these appetites more voracious, with a report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) suggesting that data centres could consume more than 1,000 TWh by 2026 in a worst-case scenario.
This, in turn, increases the heat generated by the servers, data storage drives, and network equipment housed within the data centre, all of which must be ventilated and cooled if they are to be prevented from overheating and malfunctioning.
Cooling systems themselves are an integral part of any data centre and a significant contributor to its power consumption, in some cases accounting for 30-55%. Most existing data centres will also rely on traditional air cooling systems, which are increasingly inefficient when faced with more power-intensive workloads.
For new builds, such as the facility under development in Ajman, this is less of a problem because more energy-efficient forms of cooling, such as immersion, can be incorporated into the design and layout of the data centre before construction has even begun.
Retrofitting these technologies to existing data centres, however, is much easier said than done.
Keeping it cool
Take immersion cooling as an example. This method submerges IT components into an inert, non-conductive (or ‘dielectric’) fluid, which absorbs and dissipates heat up to 20 times more efficiently than air.
Already touted as a more effective and efficient cooling method, immersion cooling may even be able to offer further sustainable benefits, such as recirculating extracted heat into district heating systems or using treated sewage effluent. That is, of course, if there is a blank canvas upon which to design and build.
For existing data centres, the options for exploiting these capabilities come with many limitations.
Exchanging air cooling systems for immersion cooling, for example, will not be a simple case of swap out and plug in. In many cases, it will even require a wholesale change to the data centre’s structure, design, HVAC, MEP and functionality.
As the requirement for AI is also uncertain, many hyperscalers are now demanding a mixture of traditional air cooled and liquid cooled data halls on a 70/70 air to liquid split model. This is impacting the design of the building and floor loadings, thus also increasing costs.
This is because the weight of the cooling baths into which IT equipment would be submerged would require greater structural floor loading than traditional air cooling systems. Operators would also need to re-design the plumbing from a system in which water is kept out at all costs, to one in which water is allowed to flow inside.
Change management
Even if the fundamental structure of the data centre lends itself to immersion cooling, data centre operators would need to be mindful of the time and costs associated with installing these capabilities, particularly where resilience and continuity are concerned.
After all, few data centre operators would relish the prospect of a power outage or disruption to pre-existing customer agreements, particularly when such outages could cost the business up to $1 million, according to research by the Uptime Institute.
Due to the multi-disciplinary nature of data centre projects, any proposed retrofit or upgrade would require specialist guidance across investment, financing, real estate, construction, corporate mergers and acquisitions, commercial issues, and procurement.
Amongst other things, data centre operators would need to review the extent to which freedom and flexibility are afforded through existing leases, users licences, collocation agreements, outsourcing agreements, fibre access and ring agreements, right of use agreements, and power purchase agreements. For example, do any of these offer any room for early termination or re-negotiation?
Even once these questions are answered, data centre operators will need to manage projects carefully to minimise disruption, prevent outages, manage stakeholder expectations, and mitigate other risks. For significant and invasive retrofits, such as those required for immersion cooling, implementation would need to be gradual and account for a period during which old and new systems would co-exist.
Mission impossible?
t is certainly an exciting time for the global data centre industry, and it will be interesting to see how new builds will incorporate more intensive workloads and split air to liquid cooling alongside better sustainability and efficiency.
Does this mean, however, that existing data centres are no longer fit for purpose? Whilst it is true that they have a greater number of barriers to overcome, it is nonetheless possible for existing data centres to evaluate their current layouts and structures and identify ways in which to harness new technologies and computing capabilities. Furthermore, they are still able to service the demands of cloud, which is also growing alongside AI.
There are, indeed, many opportunities for existing data centres to meet customers’ evolving computing needs. Providing, that is, that they start by getting the right advice.
